Positive discussion

[Anonymous]

So, I had a crazy idea. I'm completely fed up with all the negative posts over the past couple of weeks. I'm wondering if I can start a thread going in the other direction. I would love to hear why people DO support the candidate they support. And I don't mean "I'm voting for Obama because Palin didn't really SELL the jet on Ebay" or "I'm voting for McCain because Michelle Obama looks angry." I wonder what people actually like about their preferred candidate (or VP candidate)--what that candidate actually will bring to the table as President--without mentioning the candidate they oppose. I am currently on the fence (as a very middle of the road person--fiscally conservative, socially liberal). As a registered Democrat, I would tend to lead toward Obama, but I can't honestly articulate WHY. I'm hoping others can do better than I can...

[Anonymous]

This whole circus has made me appreciate Obama more.

He was unique among all the candidates in opposing the war in Iraq. He stated early on when it was not popular to do so (not several years later when popular views shifted in this direction) that racing into Iraq would be a mistake, that the Bush administration was underestimating the effort, and that it would distract from Afghanistan. Not only was his judgement correct back them, it took courage to stand against the war at that time.

The Bush administration has destroyed the military. Our troops are overextended and we can barely cover Irag and Afghanistan. The Bush administration has never been honest at any level about the war. There are military families out there suffering from massive cuts in services, bases, appropriate equipment, and extended tours all stemming from the administration not listening to the military commanders. Another 4 years of this will increase the budget deficit and further exhaust the military. Someone should ask McCain whether he plans to re-instate the draft or if he simple plans to never allow the soldiers deployed to return. McCain's plan to cut out funding for projects like Palin's Bridge to No Where are a drop in the bucket compared to what he will spend on keeping troops in Iraq.

One of our problems in executing foreign policy objectives has been the loss of respect and credibility the US once held with other nations. The McCain platform is a continuation of the Bush go it alone and think later about the consequences. Obama will be more readily accepted into the diplomatic community and as such will have the ability to be more aggressive in regaining other nation's commitments to these efforts. Gaining access to intelligence through other nations, multi-national troop deployments, and leveraging economic incentives are critical to our foreign objectives. We have carelessly thrown these tools out the window for the past 8 years, it is time to reclaim them.

Obama has shown the ability to build coaltions of support from conflicting groups. His positions, his rhetoric, and his past actions have shown a honest commitment to bipartisanship. Imagine the first sessions, who do you believe will be more successful in achieving bipartisan legislature on an energy bill, healthcare reform, economic programs, and education programs? McCain/Palin are too polarizing and simply do not focus on the real issues for me.

Obama will appoint Supreme Court justices who will respect our hard won privacy rights rather than overturn them leading is back 30 years.

Obama chose a vice presidentional candidate that balanced his own strengths and would be able to govern. If a situation occurs that requires the vice president to step, it is critical to have someone with strong foreign policy experience.

Obama is honest.

[Anonymous]

Obama is one of the few politicians who can discuss and address racial issues in a thoughtful rather than fearful or opportunistic manner.
This is not as well known and would not grab any eyeballs in Peoria but Obama's role on the Harvard Law Review came at a time when there were significant racial tensions on campus. Even at a younger age, he was able to transcend the racial divisions and pull people togther. He unites people and we have had too much divisiveness over the past few years.

[Anonymous]

Obama is a leader. Obama is calm and rational. Obama is smart.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to circle back to focus more attention on what Obama can do and can offer, rather than on what the opponent can't do. I realize the circus of the past 2 weeks has really taken national & media attention away from Obama.

He's demonstrates even keel in difficult situations and questioning which you need as a leader during crises and when dealing in high stakes meetings with diplomats and world leaders.

Obama balanced his ticket with a person who has the foreign policy experience that he was aware that he lacked. He is intelligent. He knows how to deal with people who look different from him. I hear a lot of blah-blah about diversity at the work place but nobody really understands what the heck that means. By 2042, white people will become a minority in the US. Start laying the foundation for a country that can best deal with the diversity of peoples and thoughts and not a foundation for mistrust and fear.

[Anonymous]

He's the American dream, worked his way up from welfare to get where he is today. I have alot of respect for that.

he was raised by a single mom and has a ton of respect for women, and on top of that, women who work outside the home.

he is a diplomat, he is not some cowboy who will pick a fight with someone because they looked at him funny.

He is super smart and articulate, and I enjoy listening to him speak.

he doesn't sound like a broken record like his oponent.

He has original thoughts.

He CARES about people and wants to help them do better.

He will make the world a better place because he wants peace, instead of just saying he does and then invading a country for no reason.

Just wish his threshold for the tax increase was more than 250K, that's my biggest beef with him

[Anonymous]

I was impressed with the way Obama handled the Reverend Wright debacle. He could have just sent out a press release rejecting Reverend Wright and the whole thing would have been over. Instead he directly addressed the issue of race in our country and said that while he disagreed with Wright he couldn't abandon him.

Unfortunately Reverend Wright started thinking the whole thing was about him and gave that disastrous press conference. Then Obama decided to leave his church.

Obama could have saved himself a lot of grief by rejecting Wright earlier but he was unwilling to do that. He tried to take the responsible and ethical path, despite the risks.

[Anonymous]

I honestly truly believe that the skill set of a community organizer is a plus for a president.

[Anonymous]

I don't see any explicit concrete exmples of all of these "feelings" people have for Obama. This is my problem, I can't find any other than warm fuzzies.

Legislation, please?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Obama has shown the ability to build coaltions of support from conflicting groups. His positions, his rhetoric, and his past actions have shown a honest commitment to bipartisanship. Imagine the first sessions, who do you believe will be more successful in achieving bipartisan legislature on an energy bill, healthcare reform, economic programs, and education programs? McCain/Palin are too polarizing and simply do not focus on the real issues for me.

Anonymous wrote:

Agree with PP. I understand these good feelings about Obama, but I have yet to see any evidence in support of these feelings. In particular, I'd be itnerested in what he has done to show his skill at building coalitions to acheive something.

I agree he's a likeable guy. I just don't think he has the experience necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see any explicit concrete exmples of all of these "feelings" people have for Obama. This is my problem, I can't find any other than warm fuzzies.

Legislation, please?

11:34 here. Went to lookup his IL legislation record, and found this hit first. It's a WaPo article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010303303.html

[Anonymous]

Ethics Reform:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901456.html

January 20, 2007

The final package is the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet. Like the rules changes the House adopted this month, it would bar lawmakers from taking free gifts, meals and entertainment. No longer would lobbyists and private interests be allowed to throw lavish parties honoring lawmakers at political conventions. Travel paid for by private interests would be dramatically curtailed. Lawmakers' cut-rate corporate jet flights would be grounded. The revolving door would be slowed, with lawmakers having to wait two years, not the current one year, before lobbying their former colleagues.

The bill would bring far more transparency to money in Washington: how lawmakers choose to spend it and how it is deployed to influence them. On the spending side, the measure calls for disclosure of an array of earmarked pet projects. On the influence side, lobbyists would not only have to report their own campaign contributions, but they also would have to list the fundraisers they held and the "bundled" contributions they arranged or collected for lawmakers, the real source of their power.

We've had our doubts about the commitment of Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) to a strong ethics bill; we've had our qualms about his conduct. But Mr. Reid, along with Sens. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), deserves credit for assembling and passing this package.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He's the American dream, worked his way up from welfare to get where he is today. I have alot of respect for that.

he was raised by a single mom and has a ton of respect for women, and on top of that, women who work outside the home.

he is a diplomat, he is not some cowboy who will pick a fight with someone because they looked at him funny.

He is super smart and articulate, and I enjoy listening to him speak.

he doesn't sound like a broken record like his oponent.

He has original thoughts.

He CARES about people and wants to help them do better.

He will make the world a better place because he wants peace, instead of just saying he does and then invading a country for no reason.

Just wish his threshold for the tax increase was more than 250K, that's my biggest beef with him

Careful not to do exactly what we're accusing the Palin people of, and contributing to a false narrative or myth. Obama is an entirely self-made man, but he never "worked his way up from welfare." His mom was single much of the time, true, but his grandparents did much of the actual "raising" and his family was never on welfare. His mother accepted food stamps for awhile but it was while she was a Ph.D. student - hardly the experience of most people getting food stamps. The actual facts of his journey are compelling enough, so let's not perpetuate a myth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see any explicit concrete exmples of all of these "feelings" people have for Obama. This is my problem, I can't find any other than warm fuzzies.

Legislation, please?

I assume this poster and the one that followed are McCain supporters. I will try not to be snarky in reminding them that the premise in this thread is to say what is good about your candidate, not to attack the other; that has gone on in plenty of other threads.

[Anonymous]

One of two PP here. The OP asked for a serious and positive discussion and I think we were just inviting serious and positive support for the feelings asserted. There were no slams, no snarky comments. I think it's fair and appropriate for both sides to examine records as much as people's feelings about a candidate.